Forty-two million Americans are on the brink of going hungry because Democratic leaders chose political theater over governing. This is not an accident—it’s the direct result of Senate Democrats, led by Sen. John Fetterman, weaponizing our most vulnerable citizens to extract more handouts and expand Obamacare, all while holding the entire federal government hostage.
Sen. Fetterman’s grandstanding is shameful. He claims the shutdown violates “core values,” then votes against every clean funding bill. He dresses up obstruction as compassion, yet his tactics punish working families, stall head-start programs and threaten SNAP, WIC and child-nutrition services.
Democrats offered no plan to reopen the government. Instead, they demanded new spending on Medicaid expansions and enhanced Obamacare subsidies—benefits set to expire later this year. Those are budget fights for a later date, not ransom notes to keep the lights on.
Republicans in the Senate have stood firm. We offered a clean continuing resolution that funds the government at current levels through year’s end. No policy riders. No back-door giveaways. Our proposal respects both fiscal responsibility and the American people’s basic expectation: that their government functions.
Here’s the difference. When Republicans govern, we keep our word. We pass budgets, paychecks go out, and food-stamps clear the system on time. When Democrats govern—at least under Fetterman’s leadership—they demand more debt, more dependency and more delays, using everyday Americans as leverage in a power-play that betrays core American values of self-reliance and personal responsibility.
The so-called “nuclear option” that Fetterman endorses—eliminating the 60-vote filibuster threshold—would permanently dismantle any restraint on party bosses. It would turn the Senate into a rubber stamp for the Left’s agenda, undermining minority rights and accelerating the path to one-party rule. That’s not democracy; it’s tyranny by the majority.
Meanwhile, federal workers are borrowing to pay rents. Families can’t plan meals. Head Start programs—critical to early education—are frozen in limbo. None of this is necessary. A simple majority vote on our clean resolution would end the crisis today.
Republicans will not negotiate under duress. We’ll continue to demand fiscal discipline, block runaway spending and protect the tools that lift Americans out of poverty without turning them into permanent wards of the state. If Democrats want Obamacare expansions, they can bring them up in regular order—in committee, on the floor, with full debate and amendment.
The choice is straightforward: reopen the government now or watch millions suffer. Americans deserve better than hostage politics masquerading as policy. Senate Republicans call on Democrats to end the shutdown, restore food-stamp funding, and return to real negotiations on future spending—where every dollar is accounted for and every vote counts equally.
No more games. No more extortion. Congress must reopen today, prove it can govern responsibly, and preserve the promise of opportunity that built this country.
